15th - 28th June. First canter in open field. Centering 20metre circles!

Things have improved!

I was very set on moving him to Saltash today, but decided that hes better off where he is for now on. He has settled into the quieter way of life, the grass has been eaten down (woohooo!) and i don't think i can cope with moving him again whilst we are trying to sell the house (boo).

Referring back to my old post, i was feeling a little bit wobbly about life and was lacking confidence.
since then i think i grew some balls and everything seems to be better.

Canter work left rein (squiffy rein)

Canter work right rein 

Ive had another few lessons from Lottie, which is giving me a goal and keeping us on the straight and narrow. We are now cantering 20metre circles with no problem. Trot work is sometimes a little rushed, but I'm trying to teach him how to use him self correctly. i.e from behind, not digging himself into a hole from the front end! So this is going quite well!

The thing im mostly really pleased about is our first canter in an open field...
I left the yard and he felt relaxed, so took him down a very narrow bridle path and turned back on myself to canter up the field next to it. The grass is taller than me...so we did a lot of leaping in and out of it which was quite fun! But he was good as gold! Then the horse flys came and attacked us (it wasn't bad back at the yard and didn't use my noggin to put fly spray on, DOH!) This upset the delicate prince and he decided to back right into the crops and get his knickers in a twist. nothing nasty, he was being eaten alive! So i hopped off and led him out the field (which i might add is very tricky, i had to find a gap in the fence where there was no wire. I'm short and the grass is very tall) to chill him out and fly swat!!

I tried this hack again today, armed with fly spray and the knowledge of where the gap was, always a winner. He had a calm and steady canter up the field, then pottered up to the gap. Surprisingly there was a lady walking her dog, I could only see her head and was waiting for Adam to spot her, spin around and piss off down to the bottom of the field again. but NO! he greeted her nicely and walked past her! Good pony!

Overal, I am very proud and pleased with him and myself. It has taken alot of guts and hard work to get this far. I just hope the good behaviour and fun continues!